Question

How is Orlon prepared?

Answer 1

Hint: In order to answer the question, we need to define the structure of the polymer Orlon and need to identify the monomer molecule of Orlon. These monomers will join together to form polymer and often it will take thousands of monomers to form a single polymer and the process taking place is polymerization.

Complete step by step answer:
- Let’s look into the concept of polymerization. In the process of polymerization two or more than two monomers which are the substantial compounds that are united in forming the polymer will combine to give various kinds of polymers. Depending on the nature of the polymer formed and the monomers used, the polymerization is carried out by different methods.
- As we know, Orlon is a brand of synthetic, acrylic textile fibre of light weight and wrinkle resistant fabric and it is the polymer of vinyl cyanide. The polymer Orlon is made by the addition of acrylonitrile molecules.
- Orlon is prepared by the long chain reaction by the acrylonitrile molecule ($C{{H}_{2}}=CH-CN$) in which the simultaneous double bonds are being broken to form a chain of monomer which in addition gives the long polymers. The preparation of Orlon can be represented as follows
 \[nC{{H}_{2}}=CH-CN\to {{\left[ -C{{H}_{2}}-CHCN- \right]}_{n}}\]

- As we can see the polymer Orlon is formed by the polymerization of acrylonitrile and in this reaction the double bonds of the central carbon are broken in order to form single bonds and a new additional bond is formed with a new carbon.

Note: It should be noted that Orlon is also mentioned as an acrylic fiber and they have another modified subclass of fiber known as modacrylic fiber. It consists of at most 85% and at least 35% of acrylonitrile monomer. The Orlon fiber is very suitable for outdoor usage since it's very resistant to atmospheric gases and sunlight.